Week 17: Troika

In week 17 we got a picture of a young man named Mike. We were told that he had just received some news that would change his life. We could decide if that news was good or bad.

When I started writing about Mike I found it easier to get into the mind of his best friend so I decided to tell the story from Quinn's vantage point.

This story is the second of three vignettes surrounding the life and death of Marcia Mayville.


troika

Mike squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fists. He felt his cell phone drop out of his hand as his entire body began to shake.

“Mike, you OK man?” Quinn looked up from his laptop but Mike stayed silent. He looked over at his friend as if trying to respond but even as he tried to will his mouth to speak the words did not come.

“Mike…” Quinn stood up slowly and took a cautious step towards forward. “What is it man? What did they say?”

“It’s Marcie…” he lowered himself down into a nearby chair and let his head fall into his hands.

Quinn closed his laptop and went to the kitchen to get some water. As he filled the glass he felt helpless and confused. Getting a glass of water in a situation like this was something his mother would do and in the absence of another strategy it seemed like a logical step.

He brought the glass into the living room, laid it down on the table beside Mike and sat down on the coffee table facing his oldest friend. They had been inseparable since they were five years old and there was nothing Mike could say that would shock him or drive him away.

“What did she do this time? Shit, is she in rehab again? That fuckin’ industry is killing her.” As he thought about the last few years he felt the anger rise in his belly.

Marcie Mae was Mike’s twin. As an only child Quinn was often jealous of that bond that his best friend shared with his sister but the pair had always included him in their schemes. Almost every fond memory from Quinn’s childhood involved the three of them riding around their small town on bicycles or tearing around the backwoods playing explorer. Marcie always dreamed of finding something bigger… something more.

When she turned eighteen she picked up and left in order to follow her dreams. Everyone in town seemed shocked but Mike and Quinn had seen it coming for years. And now, little Marcie Mae had made good on her dreams: she was a star with all of the fame and the heartache that came with it.

Mike had always been proud of her. Hell, he and Quinn sat in the front row for every community theatre production and they took it upon themselves so start the standing ovation each time Marcie had a curtain call. They collected movie posters, magazine articles and memorabilia from each of her shows but Quinn also knew that Mike had lost countless hours of sleep worrying about his other half. First it was the drinking, then the disastrous relationship with the rock star and finally the stint in rehab.

Mike and Quinn had been hopeful at first and travelled to L.A. to greet her when she was released from the thirty-day program. She looked like herself again and Quinn could not decide if he was happier to see her or the look of joy and relief that had returned to his best friend’s face. On her first day home they rented a car and the three of them drove around Hollywood following a beat-up map of the stars’ homes. For a few hours Quinn felt like a kid playing explorer again with his two best friends.

“Mike… talk to me man. What happened?”

“She’s dead…” Mike’s voice was so quiet Quinn barely heard the words. He wanted to ask him to repeat it but he knew that uttering it even once had ripped his heart out.

“She tripped and hit her head. My mom wanted to tell me before we heard it on the news.”

Quinn felt the air leave his lungs but could not summon the strength to draw in another breathe. For a moment the world stood still.

Mike stood up suddenly and turned on the television before Quinn could stop him. As the screen flickered a picture of Marcie Mae filled the screen. Quinn tried to grab the remote from his hand but Mike jerked away transfixed by the image and the caption. “Marcia Mayville: Dead at 28 years of age”